Prayers ...

Prayers for the week of January 25, 2015

Gracious Father, we praise You that You sent Your Son into our flesh to preach the Gospel of His saving work for all mankind.  Through Your Word and Sacraments, pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us that we, with all Your Church, may faithfully confess Your saving name wherever You place us.  Lord, in Your mercy,  hear our prayer.

Graciously hear our prayers, O Father.  Deliver and preserve us for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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“…The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  Mark 1:15
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A Prayer based on the Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer ... “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O Lord, “If you would mark iniquities, O Lord, who would stand? But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared.” As a Father who deeply loves His children, You promise to freely forgive us as we repent of our sins. To that end, lend your fatherly ear to my petitions:

* For the ill, suffering, injured: O Lord, without You, man has no hope for the sick to be healed or the sinner to be forgiven;  yet You have shown Your power and will to do both. Hear my prayer for those who are ill, suffering, or injured, especially Norm Bunge*, Connie Block*, Debbie Taylor, Sue Ail, LaVerne Andersen*, Mark Babler (friend of the Hopkins family, diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer); comfort them with the certainty that – because their sins have been forgiven on account of Christ Crucified – they may be certain that you will provide for their temporal health and their eternal well-being, in accord with Your will.

* For the anxious, lonely: O God, You promise to answer those who call upon You in their day of trouble. Hear my prayer on behalf of Lamont and Thomas and forgive them where – in trial and tribulation – they grow weary and doubt your Word. Strengthen them through Your Word of Truth and its promises, reminding them that – because he is  forgiven in Christ – nothing can separate them from Your love.

* For the mourning: O Lord, You take no delight in the death of even the wicked, but desire all men to be saved, and have given Your only-begotten Son to bear the sins of all the world. Hear my prayer on behalf of those who mourn the death of Richard including his family.  Comfort them with the promise that we have been forgiven in Christ, so that all who die in Christ still live with Him in paradise. Comfort them in this time of sorrow, that they would not grieve as those who have no hope, but as those to whom belongs the certain hope of “the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

* For all who rejoice: O Lord, because You have paid the redemption price in Christ, and have forgiven all our trespasses, You also delight in giving us every blessing under heaven. Hear my prayer of thanksgiving on their behalf. Grant thankful hearts to all of us that rejoice in the many blessings that flow to us as ones forgiven through the blood of the Lamb.

* Please bless shut-ins Velma Mass, Irma Martin, Velda Miller, Bruce Morecraft,  Alice Breneman and also all the Widows and Widowers of Calvary.

Hear my petitions, O Heavenly Father, for the sake of Your Son, in Whom we have the forgiveness of sins and, thus, the right to come to you as dear children who have been taught to pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”